Devastating Circumstances
by chesxca
Summary: "How cruel, you don't even have the decency to pretend you missed me."
1. Miss

**Been thinking about writing this for a while, it's still a though in progress so I'm just going to see where I can go with this.**

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**Miss**

Not many things could make Mayuri worry, he could count on one hand the number of times he had been baffled, disturbed and worried in his whole entire life. He thought about killing his lab assistant for making a joke in such bad taste, making him actually startled and almost spilling his tea. He kept wondering who would actually joke on a manner such as this, and the man's terrified look was one he did not recognize.

He laughed to himself, he had a bad wrap for being violent towards not only his squad but members of the soul society also. So killing this particular man on his first day wouldn't help his reputation at all. Not that he cared about such a thing anyway, what mattered was that she was actually here, and why she decided to make such a sudden appearance on the first place.

When he stepped into his office he was annoyed, it was bad enough she was in his office, but now it seems she made herself at home. He was a captain, people shouldn't feel so freely about coming into his office when he was there, let alone making themselves comfortable when he was not aware of it. He was ready to scold her, one for carelessly tossing her belongings on his desk, and two disappearing when he took very important time out of his day to greet her.

It didn't take him another second to know where she was, he stepped out to the balcony of his office and sure enough she was sitting on the banister looking out over the soul society with her back to him. "Why are you here?" His words were curt, he wanted to get straight to the point, he didn't have the time for bull shit, awkwardness or beating around the bush.

He hoped he could make peace quickly so she would take her leave and things could go back to normal, as much as he loved the reaction of cause and effect, this is one he wasn't quite prepared for. "How cruel, you don't even have the decency to pretend you missed me." Her voice was different, that was the first thing he noticed. The second was the kimono she wore had the twelfth divisions symbol on the back.

Despite the situation she smiled at him, looking over her shoulder to make eye contact with him in the first time in fifty years. Her eyes were the same, that was just about the only thing that was, that and the fact she still liked to wear his captains haori. She used to steal it and sleep in it every night much to his displeasure. When she left he gave her his extra one he never expected her to get it made into a kimono and for her to wear it around.

It was flattering in away, it was definitely not a bad thing for an attractive girl to walk around wearing a symbol in his honor. It was probably one of the reasons he had so many willing sponsors. "Adellia?" It was almost a question, the last time he saw her she was at least a foot taller than her, she didn't even come up to his shoulder then. Now he could easily look down to her, rather than straining his neck like he used to, or going out of his way to sit down to speak to her.

Her hair was longer, it was still the light brown color it had always been , he could tell this even in the moonlight. It was a lot longer now, even flipped over her shoulder it almost met her waist. "You don't seem too happy to see me." Mayuri ignored her comment because he was still staring, a lesser man would be gawking by now. He definitely noticed the prominent swell of her breast and the curve of her hips.

The last time he saw her she was still a child, at least in his eyes she was. Mentally she was sharp, and his conversations with her were more than surprising, she was well beyond her years in her mind set. Every time she opened her mouth it proved so. He was a hard man to impress, but somehow she always did so, from her ability to maintain their home, to her input with experiments, even her suggestions on making Nemu more efficient.

What stood before him now was not a girl, this was a woman, even her lips were fuller and her eyes that used to stare up at him so innocently had an intensity that matched even his owned. "I'm just trying to figure you out, my dear." He grinned this time, the shock finally wore off and he understood why she was here. "Come now, sit with me."

They were both pretty shaken in the beginning, well her devastated, him annoyed by the arrangement. He would have never agreed to it unless the perks outweighed the flaw, and she seemed just as much against it as he was, and she promised him she would try her best not to burden him. After the first ten years she volunteered to leave him for research in the human world, he could stop sending members of his squad, and she could go live out the childhood she was missing out on.

She was absolutely brilliant, the things she sent, and the letters she wrote him were always very helpful with his research, but he failed to realize the content of her letters improve, that she aged and matured over the years, she was no longer the little girl they married off to him, but a more mature version of her. He honestly never expected her to return, she said she would come back when she was a wife he no longer had to be embarrassed of, when she was fit to be his other half, when she was ready to be by his side.

Was this what her being here was all about?

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**Still Iffy on it oh well, thanks for reading -Chesxca**


	2. Late

**Thought I would get some background in early, rather than having to make up for it after I jumped deep into the story.**

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**Late**

Mayuri was used to late nights, staying up till four in the morning working on experiments, then waking up a couple hours later fresh as a daisy. His body was already used to this type of behavior, but last night was different from his usual routine. He woke up drained for the first time in a long time, even though he went to bed hours before he usually did.

He looked to the spot next to him, it was empty, he was grateful because he wasn't sure how he would of reacted if he was the one to wake up first. He could definitely feel a headache coming on, another thing he was grateful for is that they weren't awakened by Nemu. She wouldn't have asked any questions, she knew better than that, but she would have been aware of his dilemma.

He didn't even mean to share a bed with her last night, it just sort of happened, not that there was anything wrong with that. It was normal for husband and wife to share the same bed chamber, but they weren't exactly normal husband and wife. She fell asleep when he went to wash the paint off of his body, and he had nowhere else to put her for the night so he didn't wake her.

Sure he could have put her in Nemu's room or even one of his many guest rooms, but there would have been a better chance of her being discovered, and that was something he did not yet want. He could hear the shower running in the bathroom and her clothing threw in the corner of the room was more clues than he needed to know where she was.

Mayuri was surprised she remembered where everything was after so long, sure she lived her ten years, but somethings could easily slip the mind after a while. After she arrived last night, he announced to his lab he was taking the rest of the day off for personal reasons. Putting Nemu in charge of everything was his best choice, but he threatened his whole lab if there was a mistake made, they were all to pay the price for it.

The conversation he needed to have with her was far too private to continue in his office, where people could over hear, ease drop, and later gossip about. Only Nemu, Akon, and a few of his older lab assistants knew of his wife, and he never mentioned her for a reason. It wasn't like anyone asked, they could all assume he was a single man like the rest of the captains. He had far too many enemies that would try to hold her against them, and all that would earn him was a head ache, and them their death.

Adellia had a fun time teasing him whenever she could, he was almost offended by what she was implying when she said he just wanted to get her alone. He was even more annoyed when she requested he held her hand when they walked back to his-their home. He refused of course, so she settled on clinging on to his arm, just like she did before she left.

"I was kidding Mayuri-Sama." she still spoke to him respect, despite her teasing, for the first five years of their marriage she still refereed to him as "Kurotsuchi-Sama" and he always reminded her there was no reason to be so formal with him, now that he was her husband. But it was a bad habit he had to break her out of, it sounded weird since they had the same last name, which was another thing he had to remind her of.

Her family was quite cruel, she was the bastard child of a noble woman and that was more than frowned upon when you are of noble status. They were always ashamed of the child, instead of her being taught like the other children she was to be put to work with the servants. If that wasn't cruel enough, the family did not allow her to shame their name with her own.

When she first introduced herself she said her name was Adellia, when he asked her for her last name she didn't have one. She shamed her family with her birth and she had yet to earn a surname. He thought she was fibbing and being a rude child, everyone had a surname, even those who live in the rukongai. No one could be that cruel to a child just because of her birth, he didn't believe her words until one of the maids vouched for her.

Thats when he realized what kind of burden they saw her as, he spoke to the family hoping that he would fund his research and they turned out to be one of his greatest sponsors. The head of the clan offered to sponsor him for ten years if he took the girl as his wife, and of course his answer was no. It wasn't until she upped the offer to every year of their marriage did he finally agree.

It was during their engagement when he learned how intelligent she was, though she wasn't formally taught like the other children in her clan, she would sneak and read their books, she was far ahead of people older than her. He was also surprised to see she had her very own zanpaktou, she admitted that her mother was a soul reaper, and so was her father, though she's only gotten a letter from him once.

Her mother taught her how to survive, she knew her life was going to be a hard one here, she even expected them to marry her off as soon as she was of age. She would only speak to him when they were alone, and they didn't even send a guard with her like they did with the pure blooded nobles.

"Most suitors aren't as nice as you Kurotsuchi-Sama, girls are beaten, girls are raped, and girls are killed the minute they step out of line. Most girls are married off long before they reach my age." Each one of her words were more surprising than the last, first she called him nice, he didn't think he was being nice to her at all, but hearing the rest of her words let him know she was treated worse on a daily basis.

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**This was kind of a decent place to stop, its probably going to take me at least half of the next chapter to paint a picture of their past. I'm still working on it though, I updated a different story like four chapters so I decided to get back to writing this one. Thanks.-Chesxca**


	3. This

**I have way too much free time on my hands. I've updated like ten chapters throughout my fan fiction within the past five days. Crazy right?**

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**This**

"Must you walk around like that? Your dress is even shorter than Nemu's." He didn't know why he cared the slightest at the length of her dress, just because she wore high tights did not mean it made up for the fabric missing from her dress. When he gave her that haori, it fell at least to his ankles, so it had to drag when she wore it, now it barely covered her ass when she walked. "If you're in need of a new kimono, I have no problem with purchasing a new one, that actually fits."

"Oh come on, it is not that short." If she didn't think that one was as short as he did, did that mean she owned smaller ones. How embarrassing it would be to have a wife who walked around in a dress that barely met the tops of her thigh high stockings. Not only was it distracting, but he knew he wasn't the only one who noticed the length of the dress, or should he say, the lack of length. "Besides… I like this one, I've been wearing it for years."

He figured it probably fit properly once upon a time, and she didn't want to throw it out for sentimental reasons. That was fine and all, but the members of his lab staring at her absolutely was not! He knew there was going to be talk about this for a long time, even nasty rumors about him becoming soft. She had been there a week and a lot more experiments were being conducted swiftly with her assistance, he had nothing to complain about besides her wardrobe.

Almost all of her Kimono's were too short to be modest, and the ones that actually fit weren't at all flattering, yet this one was shortest of all. But that was why he pulled her aside in the first place, hopefully people would assume he got over heated in his many layers of clothing and took his captains haori off, and she stole it as soon as she got the chance. That was actually a pretty realistic scenario, even more than him physically taking it off of himself for her to wear.

She didn't say a word about him draping the fabric over her shoulders, but she didn't get a chance to either because he left immediately afterwards. She didn't hesitate on slipping her arms into it, and like his old one it was way to long for her. She wrapped her arms around herself and smiled, it was still warm and it smelled like him. As silly as it was she loved anything that reminded her of Mayuri, which is why she held on to her Kimono in the first place. She enjoyed people knowing that she belonged to her.

She was glad to be back in the soul society, she was sick of the human world. Sure it was exciting at first, but now it was incredibly dull. She did all the research she could have possibly did, and now she was bored. If she went back in about ten years, it would be like exploring a whole different world, but for now she preferred being by her husbands side. She finally felt like she could be a wife he was proud of, a wife he deserved. Rather than some snot nosed brat he got stuck with.

The excuse she gave for coming back was a bad one, she said she missed having someone to talk to who matched her intellectually, and he believed her. Or he didn't care enough to ask anything further. The truth was she missed him, and Nemu even though the girl barely ever wanted to spend time with her. That was another thing she needed to work on, what was the point of being a proper wife, if she couldn't be a proper mother to Nemu?

When she first left, she told herself she would return once she obtained her bankai, but even after that she was still not ready. Then she told herself once she grew into a full woman she would return than, that was another no. She never felt like she was quite yet good enough for him so she hid in the human world trying to better herself and not be a disappointment to her husband.

It wasn't until after the war did she decide to return, the last thing she needed was to get kidnapped and get in the way of things, She could defend herself, but she was no proper shimigami. Being a captains wife she already knew the policy on being kidnapped. If she wanted to stay alive, she would stay out of harms way. Mayuri would probably personally go out of his way to kill her for causing such trouble in the first place.

As for Nemu she had know idea what to do to get closer to her, she had a daughter and rather than calling her mother, or even by her name. It was "Miss Adellia, and lady Adellia." That was far to formal for a mother, daughter relationship. Even thought they were close in age she did have genes that came from her, which is why they had the same green eyes. She figured she could talk Mayuri into letting her take Nemu to the human world for a little while, that way he couldn't influence their relationship.

As much as she loved her husband, he could be very cruel and manipulative. She decided she needed to get back to work, but first she needed to adjust her clothing. She took off the kimono that was too short, and tied her Obi around the new haori so it fell past her knees rather than dragging behind her. She didn't realize Mayuri was in the doorway until he muttered something about modesty. "You don't look like yourself, are you I'll? Can I get you anything?"

Her hand shot up to his forehead to check his temperature but it was quickly slapped away. "I'm fine!" He picked up the file he came back for and stormed out of his office, she shook it off, it wasn't odd for him to act like that at all. Maybe he was just in one of his moods today.

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**I wasn't trying exactly to paint Mayuri as the jealous type, but he wouldn't he happy if half of his lab was distracted by the lack of dress of his wife. I have to work tomorrow… Wah! but I'm off Friday, Sunday and Monday, and as long as I have the time, I'll keep the updates coming.-Chesxca**


	4. Burdened

**Its been a while since I updated, but I wrote two chapters to make up for it!**

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**Burdened**

For the first time since she returned, he had an uneventful day, there was no wardrobe malfunction, no distracted lab assistants. No experiments gone awry, and nobody over his shoulder every second of the day. It wasn't that he missed her antics, it was just that things were a bit boring without her here. No Adellia meant no excitement, he was ecstatic when she told him she was leaving a while, to check on things in the world of the living.

But now things were different, he was normally annoyed by her presence, but now he was annoyed by her absence. He started to notice the little things she did when she was around, and now that she wasn't it was extremely inconvenient for him. Like on the first night she was gone, he came home to no dinner, and his bath wasn't drawn. He had to wait almost an hour for Nemu to return to send her out for something, which was never as good as a home cooked meal.

While he was waiting for Nemu to return he had to draw his own bath which wasn't quite the same either. He hadn't realized he started relying on the girl so much, and that was something he needed to change. His room was a mess on top of things, she usually cleaned up after him too. She usually made his bed, and put away his laundry everyday and there was just something so much better about climbing into a neat bed rather than the hump of bedding he's been dealing with lately.

"The stupid girl, gone for a week already and no word." The rumors around the lab about Mayuri killing her for being annoying, or she ran away from him because he was abusive to her were practically the last straw. He's never laid a hand on her in a violent way, and that was a rarity, people often annoyed him and he made them pay for it. The most he's ever done is scolded her, and that was because she deserved it. Or he would pry her off of him when she decided she wanted to cling to him for dear life which was usually once a day or so.

*Come on Mayuri, you've lived without her for decades without a single thought. Stop acting so ridiculous.* He was scolding himself, this is exactly why he didn't rely on people. All that mattered was science, and everything that went along with his experiments. Even being a captain could be a nuisance when it got in the way of his research. Though his wife was brilliant and helped to complete his experiments at twice the pace she still was a distraction. Even now rather than getting some well needed rest, he was lying awake thinking of her.

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He was surprised the rain didn't wake him up the way it was beating against his window seal, nor was it when she entered his room did he stir. It wasn't until he felt the weight of another body on top of his did he finally rouse from his slumber. His first reaction would have been to yell at her and ask her what she was doing, despite the relief that washed over him knowing she was safe. Sure she could be an annoying brat at sometimes, but her whimpering almost had him concerned.

If it weren't for the thunder in the background, and the fact she was soaked to the bone he would have checked her for injury immediately. He sighed still half asleep, how is it he could be concerned, annoyed, and relieved at the same time, that is if he were capable of feeling concern and relief for another person. He stuck with annoyed, not to give himself away. "Aren't you a bit old to be having such an irrational fear of thunder?"

He practically spit acid with his words, he remembered this clearly, every time it stormed like this she would not only jump into his bed, but cling to him for dear life until it was over. Even now, with her legs on either side of his hips and her face buried into his neck attempting to hide from the storm. She didn't answer him, she was already ashamed at the fact she woke him over something so stupid, but she was too terrified to care at this point.

The moment she returned to the soul society she had to make it through the storm first hand without anyone to hold onto, and she refused to bare it any longer. "You do realize you're getting me soaked! Remove that wet clothing before we both fall ill!" It just wasn't her hair that was wet, after a moment of her laying on him, he could feel the moisture soak into his own clothing, if that wasn't bad enough, he was sure that side of his bed had a pretty big wet spot from her climbing in with him.

He decided not to kick her out tonight, though she needed to break this nasty habit of clinging to him the minute she was frightened. Almost as fast as he pushed her off of him she was back in place, holding him tightly and getting on his last nerve. He forbid himself from holding her back, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction to think this was okay, or that he was enjoying himself, his arms stayed by his side, hoping she wouldn't mistake him for a man of sympathy. "I'm sorry… I just can't help it…"

Mayuri was a smart man, it wasn't hard for him to put two and two together. He knew something from her childhood had to scar her for to react like this to a little bit of rain. "You will learn. You're not a child anymore, so stop your childish ways." There were other things he's seen her react strangely to, like if he walked in the door before she had dinner on the table she would apologize until he yelled at her for apologizing so much over something so stupid.

"I will Mayuri, I promise." It wasn't until she was asleep did he notice she dropped the "sama" from his name. It would have been hard to be so formal in such a position as this. He rationalized with himself that laying so close to the edge of the bed wasn't safe for her, and she could easily fall. If she fell, that would break his sleep a second time, and that was something he wanted to avoid.

It was only then he allowed himself to wrap his arms around her waist, not because he wanted to, not because he found comfort in it, it was because he had to. Just another burden he had to bare being married to such a young wife.

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**The next chapter is a continuation of this one, I just need to edit! -Chesxca**


	5. Embarrassed

**See I didn't take that long! It just was a matter of checking my horrible grammar and what not.**

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**Embarrassed**

Strangely he woke up well rested, despite losing sleep over such silly things, and a late night visitor from hell. Speaking of her, she was still sound asleep on top of him and he debated on waking her up as rudely as she woke him last night. He decided against it, he enjoyed the silence despite being a prisoner in his own bed. He had a few hours before he usually ventured off to the lab, even though today was his day off. Research never took a day off, so neither did he, but maybe a half day would be fine being he had some errands to run and if he wanted them done right, he would do them himself the first time.

Being immobile made his mind start to wander, first on how annoying this whole situation is. Then on how embarrassing it would be to be caught in this position. Surely anyone who walked in on this would assume all types of perverted things went on between him and his wife, what other explanation would there be for a half dressed woman to be lying on him in this manner? Honestly the truth would be more embarrassing than assumptions. Mayuri Kurotsuchi, mad scientist, feared throughout the soul society, loving husband just didn't fit in that mix.

The soft breathing on his neck, and the obvious pool of drool forming meant she wasn't close to waking up, and he didn't need to move just yet. He wondered if other husbands in his situation had to deal with this, of course not! They married those girl for purposes that even made him sick. Children turned into slaves, and thrust into childhood the moment they learned to speak and cook properly. Those men were sick, lords, and nobles who took a new wife each year because the last one was too old.

He knew from the beginning she didn't want to marry either, knowing all the horror stories from the girls she grew up with. He remembered her being a wreck the night of their wedding and she begged him not to hurt he. At first he didn't understand, and just assumed they were whipped into place from the get go, it wasn't until years later that she explained to him young wives were stripped of their virginity, the day after their first menstrual cycle ended. Completely sickening, to look at a child with such lust took a certain kind of man, and that was not the type of man he was.

Even now, he still saw he as a child, even though she was on the brink between girl and woman. The thought never crossed his mind for a moment, it wasn't until he heard the whispers in his lab, did he notice desirable things about her. First he thought the comments were just to irritate him, but he eventually started paying attention to the filth coming from his lab members mouths. He's tried many times to fix that, but each trial ended worst than the last.

Changing her clothing was the first thing he did, people would not notice what they couldn't see right? Wrong, it just left more to the imagination, and he immediately switched her to working with other females or by herself. The other girls seemed fine in the beginning, that was until jealousy showed its ugly head. He didn't appreciate his wife being called things like gold digger, harlot and other foul things the other women could think of. Even going as far as saying she could never be a proper wife for him, like they knew a thing about their relationship at all.

Adellia never spoke a word to him about it, so he was left in the dark, he noticed she was annoying him less, and was often up in her own room or would just leave the lab all together in the middle of the day. It was Nemu who finally spoke up about the bullying, and Adellia being as young as she is took those things to heart. He had to pull her aside and finally tell her not to mope over such things, that she was a fit wife for him, and he had no plans to replace her. They were simple words, ones that should of been obvious, but she still threw her arms around his neck and thanked him for saying so.

"Father? Are you coming to the la-" Nemu's sentence was cut short when she opened her fathers door. She honesty wished she had knocked, even though he told her it wasn't necessary to do so. Her presence made Mayuri wonder how long he had actually been laying here, it had to be pretty late for Nemu to check on him. Though it seemed like he'd only awaken minutes ago. Nemu knew better than to ask what was going on, she would just get scolded. It was bad enough she witnessed it in the first place.

"Hey there Nemu, there's room for one more if you want to cuddle too!" Adellia said patting the other side of the bed. *Great* he thoughts, things just got worse, he could of sworn she was still sleeping peacefully on him but now she was making an awkward situation worse than it already was. How long had she been awake, was she faking sleep this whole time? No, he would been able to tell, she just woke up at an inconvenient time is all. She still had the sound of sleep in her voice, and she was just now rubbing her eyes.

"Yes, I'm coming. I'll be down in a moment." He pushed her off of him, after Nemu closed the door behind her. The worst possible thing that could happen just did, and she thought it was funny. "What are you giggling about? This isn't the least bit funny." Did she have no shame? To be caught in his bed, and then to lie there in her undergarments and laugh at it.

"The look on your face is absolutely hilarious, I've never seen you blush before." He scoffed, of course he was capable of blushing. This was an embarrassing situation and she was just laughing it off. "And apparently you enjoyed sleeping with me a lot more than you put on." That comment sent her into another fit of laughter and that made him realize what she was talking about. He started undressing in front of her out of habit, it was his room after all.

"It's the morning!" Betrayed by his own body! He stormed into his bathroom not sure if her was more embarrassed by being caught in bed with his wife, or his wife catching a view at his morning wood. This was not a good start to his day at all. Maybe he should take the whole day off.

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**See I can update. I've been working a lot lately so I write when it's slow, but it gets kind of hectic working on three stories at one time. But I'll do it! One of them is almost done so I'll have more time to give this one love. Also I love to ramble! Thank's for reading!-Chesxca**


	6. Lunch

**I've been so busy! Wah! I finally found the time to update.**

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**Lunch**

Mayuri couldn't remember the last time he shut himself up in his personal lab like this. He just needed to some time to himself, and that was close to impossible when he was working in the main lab. Someone was always asking him idiotic questions, someone was always making simple mistakes, and someone was always talking about his wife. He would never admit that he was hiding from her, but for some reason he just needed space from her presence.

It was something he couldn't begin to understand, and that alone bothered him. Why the hell was he thinking about her so often, when his thoughts could be occupied by more important things like his experiments and just science in general. Maybe it was the fact she was everywhere, she was always in his lab, or his office, she even was creeping her way into his bedroom at night. She left for a single week, and all he kept wondering was why she wasn't back, and what the hell could she be doing.

He rolled his eyes at himself, now he was complaining about her, this time to himself was well needed and he was finally able to throw himself into a project completely without stopping to do something related to his wife. Just as he was finishing up, there was a knock at the door that almost made him ruin his whole experiment. Who the hell had the nerve to interrupt him? This person was lucky that he was in a better mood, because if he was still in the mood from this morning he wouldn't have hesitated to kill them.

They didn't knock a second time so he knew they couldn't be a complete idiot. Everyone in his squad knew it wasn't smart to try and rush Mayuri, he would take as much time as he wanted, no matter what kind of hurry the other person was in. It was usually their fault they needed something and he was going to make them pay for such stupid things, and if whatever they were doing failed it was their own fault.

He didn't like cleaning up other peoples messes, and he never rushed to do so. Sometimes he felt like weeding out the members in his lab, the minute they screwed up, but finding a proper replacement would fall on his shoulders so he let them be. He finally got up to answer the door, he was wondering what moron came to bother him and why. At the same time he was hoping that moron was anyone but his wife. "Oh it's you." He almost said it with relief, Nemu was the least annoying person to be at his door, so he didn't completely mind the interruption.

"Father." She bowed like she always did, it wasn't absolutely necessary, but at least one of the women in his house treated him with the proper respect. "Lady Adellia sent this for you, she said it would be better if I was the one to deliver it." It wasn't until he smelled his lunch did he realize he hadn't eaten anything all day, he left this morning in such a hurry he didn't even think about something like food. Sure his wife could be ridiculously annoying, but at least she could cook.

He took his lunch and sat it on his desk, he was ready to crack it open, but thinking about who it was from made him wait a moment. And Nemu had yet to leave "Have you eaten yet? Go take a break or something." He was waiting for her today okay and do so, but she just stood there like there was something on the tip of her tongue. "Nemu, whatever it is, either spit it out, or leave." She seemed to stiffen, like he wouldn't want to catch on to the fact she had something to say.

"She brought me a lunch too… You two just seem to be getting along quite nicely." She looked away on the last comment, she was just as embarrassed about walking in on them like that, as they were to be caught in that position. Well, him anyway. She seemed to think the whole thing was funny, did anything embarrass that girl? He opened his lunch just so he could break eye contact with Nemu, he was pretty sure he was blushing under his paint, and the note in his lunch didn't make it better.

Mayuri thought about scolding her for making such a comment, but it wasn't her fault she saw what she did. And he would have probably assumed the same thing if he walked in on a similar situation. "This morning was not what it looked like." He finally snapped, he still had trouble looking her in the eye. He must be getting soft, first holding his wife through the night, not wanting to wake her in the morning, and embarrassed by the fact his daughter was asking about it.

"Of course not." Nemu was a smart girl, she was already terrified to ask him about the situation, but asking Adellia would be even worse. She knew it was better to drop the question rather than to ask him anything else. Nemu knew the situation well, in the beginning Adellia was still very young so they never saw much of each other. But now she always seemed to be around, and father seemed to be acting very different, and the cause was very obvious despite the way her father denied it.

He watched Nemu leave, and went back to read the annoying message at the top of his lunch. He remembered that she always used to leave him notes in his lunch, it was annoying, but this one being an apology made him stop and actually read it. "I'm sorry about last night… And this morning… To make it up to you, I made your favorite!-A. Kurotsuchi." He completely ignored the heart she wrote before her name, but was content with the fact she remembered he hated onions, and he liked his food grilled not fried.

She was observant, and smart. She could tell that she pissed him off, and now she was sucking up to him. Maybe she wasn't such a stupid girl after all.

* * *

**I wrote a chapter that took place in the same day over a week later… My timing sucks! Oh well, all I can do is try. I plan on updating again because I'm halfway through my next chapter and I don't work again until Thursday. Thanks for reading -Chesxca**


	7. Sick

**Better late than never!**

* * *

**Sick**

Leaving the lab early wasn't the best decision, but it had to be done if he ever wanted his captains haori back. She let him keep it when she left for a week, and because he was angry with her she didn't steal it today. But that didn't mean she was going to somehow get it off of him in the morning. She usually stole it at night when he was sleeping, or when he was in the shower. He always knew when she was sneaking around his room, but he never busted her on it.

That was a fight he just chose not to get in to, he didn't wear it that much in his lab anyway. He was just fortunate the head captain hadn't called any meetings lately, he would surely catch shit then. First for not wearing his haori, then there would be the jokes from the other captains about him giving it to his wife. He heard about similar things happening in the human world, he even observed it notes a few times.

When men were superior in certain things they received jackets stating so, and they often gave them to their women to claim ownership of them. He didn't need to claim his ownership of Adellia, they were already married, her having his last name not only in all of her proper titles, but also tattooed down her spine was proof enough. He never asked her about it, but he definitely noticed it, one of the many times she decided to wander into his room half dressed.

It started at the nape of her neck, and stopped at her lower back, the black ink was almost always covered by the length of her hair, but he definitely noticed it, along with other slight modifications to her body. Like the jewelry she wore in her navel, he completely understood her reasoning of having their last name down her back, after not having a proper one for the majority of her life. But the decoration in her stomach was just that, a decoration.

He finally made it to his destination, and in good time too, it was starting to get dark, and he didn't want to hear her piss and moan about him being late for dinner. She always gave him a speech about being shut up in his lab all day isn't good for his health, and that he needs to eat properly so they can grow old together. He always rolled his eyes at her at her on that line, he was already a lot older than her, and living in the soul society meant they pretty much had all the time in the world.

If they were humans, their age difference would probably be frowned upon. She was around seventeen in human time, and him being ten years older than her would definitely be looked upon badly. But in the soul society no one even took a second look at the fact he was really a century older than her. Maybe it was just the fact they had much shorter lives, or that they just didn't mind their own business.

The clothing she was wearing now was ill fitting, and she refused to wear the clothing of a shimigami. He had no choice but to buy her something new, but being a man of particular taste, he had to have something made, rather than just picking up some rag from a shop. He was already annoyed at the length of time it was taking for the old woman to make the kimono's. But it was worth it for the quality, a wife of a captain just couldn't walk around in just anything.

Despite the way he complained, she was still walking around in her much too short clothing, though she switched to wearing dark leggings under it rather than the tights that stopped at her thighs, he didn't understand her fashion she picked up in the living world, but at least she was covered now. By the time he got home she was still in the kitchen preparing dinner and to avoid another unneeded apology he just snuck off to her room and left everything on her bed. Even though she somehow found a way into his bed most nights, she still came to her room first.

He felt strange sneaking around his own house, so he decided to finally make his presence known. She was so engrossed in her cooking she didn't even notice him standing right behind her. He thought about scaring her just because she had her guard down to teach her a lesson. If he could sneak up on her so easily, so could somebody else. His curiosity was getting the better of him, how would she react? Would she scream? Try to attack him? Yell at him? Or would she just whine about it?

The only thing that stopped him from scaring her like he wanted to, is her turning her head to sneeze into her shoulder. "You're sick!" She jumped and spun around and ran right into his chest, he was satisfied with her response he was still able to scare her without even trying to. "And clumsy." He caught her before she fell back from running into him, and gave her an annoyed look.

"It's just allergies or something." He knew she was lying, she got herself sick running around in the rain last night and just didn't want to admit it. He could see it in her face, her eyes were red and puffy, her nose was red , she even sounded like she was sick and she looked miserable on top of it. He put his hand to her forehead to see if she was running a fever like he thought she was.

"You're burning up too, you should be in bed." He ignored her saying she was fine and yelling at him to put her down, but she was being stubborn so he had no choice but to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to her room. "Don't worry, I'll give you something to make you feel much better by the morning." She finally gave up trying to escape his grasp because she wore herself out, she didn't want to admit she was sick, because she knew he was going to try one of his many "remedies" to "fix" her. She was definitely in for it now.

"I better not grow a second head!" It was an empty threat because she was too weak to do something to him and if he altered her anatomy in anyway she would have to wait until she healed to get her revenge on him. This wasn't the first time he tried to experiment on her in one way or another, the first time he asked her if she wanted a growth potion or something so she could just skip those awkward years of puberty that were ahead of her.

She immediately refused, and after he persisted she threatened if he ever tried to change something about her again she would embarrass him in every way she could. That was the worst thing she could come up with and he just laughed at her response, every time he asked if he could experiment on her in one way or another she would give him a similar response. "Why in the world would I want you to have a second head, when I can't even get the first one to shut up?"

She gave him the dirtiest look she could come up with in her current condition. "Jerk." She said it under her breathe but loud enough so he could hear her, and with the force he stuck the needle in her he definitely heard it. He rubbed the abused spot on her thigh and said something along the lines of him not having to stab her. She almost laughed when she heard him mutter the word "Brat." Under his breathe. "What a cruel husband… Stabbing me with needles and calling me names. You really are adding insult to injury."

"And an ungrateful wife to match me. One that can't be appreciative that I'm healing her. Or that I went out of my way to do so." He was amused by the fact she said "Touche'" when he was done complaining about her. "You'll feel better in the morning. Unfortunately this wont do anything about that attitude of yours."

That comment was only a half truth, sure her the way she acted annoyed him sometimes but he actually enjoyed her sassiness. After all, not many people had the balls to stand up to him at all, and she did it at every turn. It was just like having another challenge to face, and she was a challenge that was very unpredictable.

* * *

**Why did this take me so long to write? -_- Oh well. It's up now, and I got some writing in at work. Even though it's supposed to be my day off. So I pretty much got paid to write the ending of this chapter! FUCK YEAH! Thanks for reading-Chesxca**


	8. Bonding

**I know I haven't updated in a loooong time, and Im sorry for that. Life has been hectic lately and the only reason I was able to update now is because my boss gave me a few days off for my birthday. I'm going to try harder to work on my stories but as of now my updates are going to be a lot less frequent.**

* * *

**Bonding**

"Do you care if I borrow Nemu for a couple days?" She was ready for him to say no, to tell her Nemu was his property and she just couldn't up and leave whenever she felt like it and things like that. But she already had her counter argument ready about Nemu being her daughter too and they needed to spend girl time together so they can bond. She was all ready to mope, and whine and throw a tantrum for a few days even though it was never effective on him.

"Take her." She almost fell over in surprise at the fact he didn't even put up a fight. He usually completely disagreed with whatever her wants were, and went out of the way to show her why what she wanted was either stupid, unnecessary, or just plain annoying. "But if she comes back, pierced, tattooed or pregnant, me and you are going to have a big problem." She almost laughed at his threat, what kind of trouble did he think she got in?

"Fine, I promise Nemu will come back in one piece, with no decorations, and I am way too young to be a grandma so you don't have to worry about that last one at all." He wanted to laugh at the last comment, her reaction to Nemu being around was very similar. It was a bit ridiculous when she called Nemu her daughter in public, people were dumbfounded because they looked around the same age. And Adellia always refused to go into detail about how she was her so called mother.

She even went so far to be offended when people tried correcting her by saying Nemu was her step-daughter. She always would point out the fact that her and Nemu had the same eyes. It was a very uncommon green color which is why Mayuri gave it to Nemu in the first place. She was still under construction when he and Adellia were engaged, and despite her complaints she gave him a blood sample and he used it to help form the person Nemu is today.

"Thanks!" he wasn't expecting her to hug him, nor was he expecting the kiss on the cheek before she ran out of his office. That was the second time ever he was thrown completely off by that action. The first time being when she discovered he bought her a new set of kimono's because her old ones were too small. He was in the middle of his morning coffee and he almost spit it across the table and onto Nemu when her kiss barely missed his lips.

That was over a month ago so he didn't think anything of it, but it seemed like he was going to get kissed every time he pleased her now. A simple thank you would suffice, but apparently she was overly affectionate when she was happy. But he preferred her happiness over any other emotion, he didn't want to admit he cared about her feelings, but for some reason he felt like it was his responsibility to keep her at least somewhat content. "Silly girl, running around like that, over something so stupid."

* * *

It took her a while to finally find Nemu, she wasn't in her usual places so she had to run around just about everywhere to finally spot her with a group of other girls! "Nemu! I finally found you." She ran up and wrapped her arms around her, knowing she wouldn't get a hug back, but it was worth a try anyway. Nemu not being used to that sort of affection just stood there with a blush on her face. "I've been looking all over for you! Why were you so hard to find?"

Nemu agreed with her father, when he said Adellia pouted way too much, she was doing it now and it seemed a bit childish coming from someone who was supposed to be her parent. The word parent was a bit of a stretch, but she always was very nice to Nemu, and she did take care of her, in her own strange ways. "Lady Adellia, I saw you just this morning." The rest of the women around them were looking at them confused, a young woman clinging on to Nemu and Nemu doing her best to comfort her.

Nemu told her father earlier she was leaving for the Shinigami Women's association meeting, who were more than confused with the current situation. "Well, when your done playing with your friends, hurry home. I have a surprise for you." Nemu didn't like surprises but she didn't want to be rude, and she left before she could say it wasn't a surprise anymore because she told her about it before it happened. She still was a bit curious to what she was so excited about, Adellia practically danced off when she left, but she was always pretty enthusiastic anyway.

After a while Nemu finally realized everyone was staring at her and Rangiku was the first one to speak up. "Nemu, who was that girl?" The expressions on everyones face proved that they were thinking the same thing. She thought about it for a minute, and knew answering that question wouldn't be wise. It would just bring on an array of other questions and she would never get home. But not answering it, would be even worse. They would probably banter her until she answered it truthfully and then she would get even more questions, and it would look suspicious if she was trying to hide it.

"Lady Adellia…" She thought about her words carefully because she didn't want to give them the wrong impression of her. Calling her, her mother would just cause confusion, and she didn't want to explain how they were really related. So she just went with the simplest answer "Is my father's wife." She knew that answer was going to be surprising enough for the other girls. Her father never seemed like the romantic type so him being married was a shock for anyone who found out. She made an excuse to leave just so she wouldn't have to answer the many questions she knew she was going to get once the shock wore off.

* * *

**I'm going to attempt yo update again soon, but I can't make any promises. Thanks for reading.-Chesxca**


	9. Shy

**Shy**

"Are you sure you will be fine here all by yourself?" Nemu could tell she was irritating her father, but she wanted to be sure. If there was any doubt on him wanting her to leave with Adellia she would stay despite his annoyance. This is the third time she had asked and she knew he wasn't going to change his answer. That would mean that he actually need her for something and he would never admit something like that.

"Stupid girl! Did you forget who here is the child and who here is the adult?" Mayuri was getting annoyed with her presence, he spent years alone before either of the women of his life appeared and he did just fine. Even Adellia asked him a couple times if he was sure it was okay for her to take Nemu for a little while. DId they really think he was that incompetent? That he couldn't feed himself? That he couldn't take care of both his lab and his home on his home for a few days?

"I apologize." She wasn't trying to insult him, but she knew it was best to drop it rather than keep pushing it. Maybe she shouldn't worry about it and actually try to enjoy herself. She was honestly worried about her own well being. A week in the human world wouldn't be so bad, she had been there before, but never on her own and never without her father.

She knew continuing the conversation would be pointless so she went back to her room to pack. Leaving tomorrow was definitely going to be different and she couldn't bring herself to decline such a kind offer after Adellia went through so much trouble, Nemu was just going to have to grin and bear it. She didn't even know what she needed, or what to do, she just knew playing human for a little while was definitely going to be an experience she wouldn't soon forget.

* * *

"What is it you think you're doing?" This is why mayuri hated working from there was always some sort of distraction just waiting around the corner. Sure in the lab there was a distraction here or there but everyone was too afraid to come to him over stupid things so they usually just fixed things themselves unless it was a real emergency. This on the other hand was not the case. He always had two problems here, and they were the complete opposite of each other.

Nemu was always overly careful when it came to her work so she would constantly check in with him to make sure her work was correct and to his liking. He didn't mind that so much, he honestly preferred her coming during every step so he could check her work, than bringing him and end result that was wrong in every way possible. But Adellia was just a piece of work, like now he was at his desk in the middle of working on something important, and he feels her behind him.

"You need to relax." She said it in a soft voice, he knew it was well past midnight and the light from his desk was probably keeping her up, but she did have a room of her own so if she didn't like it she could just get out. "You work too hard, you know that right." He tensed up when she started rubbing his shoulders, but eventually he gave into the feeling of her working out the knots in his neck. "Come to bed… That will be there in the morning, but I wont."

"Don't tell me what to do." He shrugged her off, "Such a clingy girl, it is not my concern you have trouble sleeping alone." He knew he hit a nerve with her, because for once she was silent. He didn't realize it but at some point she stopped sneaking into bed with him in the middle of the night, and was just usually there before he was. " If you behave yourself, I'll consider letting you stay in here tonight."

She knew telling him that she would miss him would be pointless, and there was no way he was going to come to bed with her tonight. He was stubborn, much too stubborn to admit he wanted to make this time together last, or even show it by spending it lying next to her. "Fine… Goodnight I guess." She was disappointed but she was going to give up that easily, she could see through him when it came to things like this, and it was better to make him think something was his idea.

Mayuri did his best to ignore her, he didn't respond when she pulled him into a hug from behind, he didn't make a sound when she kissed him on the forehead either. He was already finished with his project, but he was just messing with it until she was asleep. He wanted to avoid any heartfelt confessions, and her attempts to get him to cuddle with her tonight. Sure he was already used to her doing it just about every night, but he wanted to avoid it at all costs tonight.

She was leaving again, and he didn't want to be the one having trouble falling to sleep without her. He should of thought of that sooner, before he started waking up with his arm wrapped around her waist, and his face buried in her hair every morning. And he should of stopped it way before he started sneaking carefully out of bed in the morning so he wouldn't wake her. She gave him plenty of time to prepare for this leave, she asked him for Nemu weeks ago and he was just now trying to ignore her presence.

He was trying to ignore her last attempt to lure him into bed, but this time he was just annoyed with her. She switched off the light in his room which just ruined his chances of looking at his paper work any longer. Sure he could get up and turn it back on but she would turn it off again and that would just go on for the rest of the night. "Spoiled brat, you're lucky i'm tired or I would have to make you pay for that." He did his best to ignore the smile on her face, like she won or something. She didn't pay any attention to his threat and cuddled comfortably into the crook of his neck.


	10. Apt

Apt

* * *

"I don't see what you're so embarrassed about, I think you look cute." Nemu had only been here over night and she was already overwhelmed with the living world customs, sure a lot of things were very similar to her home. But other things were just bizarre. First there was the tv dinner they ate, two minutes to make a full meal was amazing and was something she wished they had back at home.

The second thing was watching television, it was just like the monitors in the lab, but something was definitely different about it. When Adellia explained to her the movie they were watch was made up and there was no such thing as the alien creature they were watching it confused her even more. Humans made things called movies, the people were actors, and the monsters were usually added afterwards with computers. It all seemed pretty excessive just for entertainment.

This morning didn't seem to be any better when she had to borrow an outfit from her "mother" and she hadn't worn anything besides her robes in so long everything seemed uncomfortable. That was her problem now, everything she owned seemed to be a bit short for even Nemu's liking and if her father saw how she was dressed he wouldn't be happy with either of them.

The shorts she was borrowing seemed like they could use and inch or two more fabric, and they were too bright of pink. If she looked at them too long they made her eyes hurt and was a great contrast to the simple white shirt she was wearing. Nemu knew she planned on taking her shopping later, and if this was the way everyone in the human world dressed she just wasn't going to be comfortable.

Another thing Nemu noticed was the difference in Adellia's behavior, when they were home with her father. She was always very quick, very neat, and always on time. But here they slept in to around 11 rather than the 6am wake up call they're both used to. She just grabbed anything out of her closet and rather than doing something with her long wet hair she just tied it into a bun on the top of her head. It took her under twenty minutes to get ready for them to leave rather than the hour is usually took her.

One thing was the same though, before she headed towards the door with keys in one hand and a cell phone in another. She took time out to pull up her long black stockings and put them into place. Nemu wondered if she thought her tights made up for the length of her clothing but she knew it would be rude to ask. "Nemu? Why are you so quiet all the time? Think of it as a vacation or something. There's nobody here to boss you around, and since Mayuri's not here for me to annoy you don't have to worry about his bad moods."

Adellia wanted to celebrate the small victory of getting her daughter to smile even if it was a small one. She knew she was going to regret wearing black today even if it was just her shorts. She hadn't had the chance to do laundry since she came back and it was almost summer, when she left to the soul society it was still pretty cold out so she had plenty of pants and sweaters clean. This shopping trip was for both her and Nemu, who had her only other pair of shorts on, though she had to admit the girl looked a lot better in pink than she did.

* * *

"Captain? Are you alright? You seem to be a bit out of it today?" Akon meant well, he really did, it took a lot of courage to ask his captain what was bothering him. Everyone in the lab noticed, everyone was picking up extra work, which seemed weird because Mayuri usually did the work of ten people in half the time it would take them to do one thing, and today he seemed to be at the same pace as everyone else. "If you need anything, I would be happy to help you…"

"Its nothing, my brats are missing, so I have to deal with even bigger imbeciles in their absence." It was true, not that he would admit it on a personal level. But he missed his two girls in the lab. Nemu was always a thousand times faster at fetching something for him, and Adellia always seemed to be able to have it at his side before he even asked for it. He usually kept one at his side, one or the either, it didn't matter they were both brilliant, and if he used them both at the same time, his experiments for the day would be done before noon, along with his paperwork.

Today had been a hell of a headache, he had three members of his squad at his side, just to replace one of the girls. Not only were they slow, and simple, but they were chatting. All of them, they just wouldn't shut up. Every time there was a mistake, they all blamed each other, and they even argued about who was his favorite. Sure he would have preferred Akon to these three but he didn't want to admit he was feeling a bit lost without Nemu and Adellia.

A long day following a restless night, he thought last night was a fluke, he woke up many times because he was searching the empty spot next to him. He would be embarrassed if anyone knew the great Mayuri had to hold a pillow just to get to sleep last night. This morning was just as bad, he usually woke up to Adellia stealing a kiss from him before running into the bathroom first, and since he didn't set any type of alarm he woke up late and it set him behind too. The stupid girl, ruining my schedule like that...


End file.
